4A SCHOOLS NON-CONFERENCE STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE

[Sportshawk]

MaxPreps/CBS publishes strength of schedules of each team based on the games up to that point.  A lot of opinions get thrown around about how tough or easy a team's schedule is prior to district play.  Here are are some actual figures that have some degree of respectability.  I pulled off a list of the teams with the ten toughest non-conference schedules, according to MaxPreps.

TEAM      STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
Warren            30.1
Hamburg         27.8
Stuttgart         23.4
Shiloh             23.3
Central Ark      21.4
Pea Ridge        20.9
Gosnell            20.6
Highland          19.6
Malvern           19.2
Dollarway        19.1

[LJ06]

MaxPreps/CBS publishes strength of schedules of each team based on the games up to that point.  A lot of opinions get thrown around about how tough or easy a team's schedule is prior to district play.  Here are are some actual figures that have some degree of respectability.  I pulled off a list of the teams with the ten toughest non-conference schedules, according to MaxPreps.

TEAM      STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
Warren            30.1
Hamburg         27.8
Stuttgart         23.4
Shiloh             23.3
Central Ark      21.4
Pea Ridge        20.9
Gosnell            20.6
Highland          19.6
Malvern           19.2
Dollarway        19.1

I'd almost bet Warren would have the toughest non conference schedule year in and year out.

[beach bum]

Shiloh and Warren's stand out as impressive as they are 2-1 coming off the #1 and #4 schedule both with a loss to the same high powered, quick strike 5A opponent.....

[cuckoobird]

Wait, you mean to tell me Nashville isn't on this list?!!! Well I never

[Sportshawk]

Nashvilles strength of strength rating is 1.2, 33rd toughest in the 4A. At  least according to MaxPreps

[beach bum]

Wait, you mean to tell me Nashville isn't on this list?!!! Well I never

Too busy losing to awful 5A teams.... And I am actually surprised Stuttgart is not number 1 in strength of schedule. You have played arguably the #1 and #2 team in 4A. Just shows you how bad Dewitt will drag down a ranking lol.

[cuckoobird]

True dat

[RyanLR]

Robinson's opponents are 0-9! Lakeside,CAC, and Baptist Prep. Granted Lakeside was supposed to be good. CAC is in a transition year.

[beach bum]

Robinson's opponents are 0-9! Lakeside,CAC, and Baptist Prep. Granted Lakeside was supposed to be good. CAC is in a transition year.

That is why I have been tentative to put Robinson way up in my rankings although I put them #2 after the season last year even ahead of the three 1-4A schools that went further in the postseason. If Robinson does well in the 7-4A again I think every single person on here will put them in their top 2 teams. Even 9-1 with only a very narrow defeat to Arky and I think people still put Robinson on the short 3 or 4 teams to win it all.

[FF Secretary of Defense Flap_Jack48]

MaxPreps/CBS publishes strength of schedules of each team based on the games up to that point.  A lot of opinions get thrown around about how tough or easy a team's schedule is prior to district play.  Here are are some actual figures that have some degree of respectability.  I pulled off a list of the teams with the ten toughest non-conference schedules, according to MaxPreps.

TEAM      STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
Warren            30.1
Hamburg         27.8
Stuttgart         23.4
Shiloh             23.3
Central Ark      21.4
Pea Ridge        20.9
Gosnell            20.6
Highland          19.6
Malvern           19.2
Dollarway        19.1

This topic definitely intrigues me.  I feel every year there are some teams in class 4A who will push themselves in non-conference by scheduling a tougher slate of opponents because in the long run, those tougher games will prepare them down the line in the play-offs as the competition begins to ratchet up.  There are others however who I feel schedule their non-conference with the thought of "let's get 3 wins to start the season" and go on from there.  I also feel for the most part, some of those teams tend to struggle once they get into the meat of the play-offs.  I don't know if there's any exact correlation between a tough non-conference schedule and play-off success but it did get me to wondering.

I did some research for another thread actually but I find it might be better served here.  I actually researched two different teams, but to prevent arguments from breaking out, I'll only spotlight the research I did for Warren.  The results I found were pretty interesting.  check out what I discovered regarding the Lumberjacks non-conference opponents from 2010-2017.

During this time span Warren's non-conference opponents have combined to go 174-88.  The teams the Jacks have played in non-conference are: Little Rock Christian, Stuttgart, Watson Chapel, Smackover, Pulaski Academy, Fort Smith Southside, Fayetteville, Camden Fairview, Shiloh Christian, Fordyce, Monticello and Crossett.  These teams range from 3A, 4A, 5A, 6A and yes, 7A! Warren's record against these non-conference opponents is 12-11-1 (tied Monticello in 2011).  Warren has played three eventual state champions during this stretch, PA (2015, 2014) and Camden Fairview in 2012.  Not only that, but Warren had seven opponents go on to win double digits game in a season after playing the Jacks in non-conference.   Warren has also won 5 conference titles and played in three state championship games winning two state titles during these past 7 seasons.  They've only failed to advance to at least the Quarterfinals twice from 2010-2016, which is again, pretty impressive.

So, as you can see, Warren's non-conference slate, in my opinion, has certainly benefited the Lumberjacks with success later in the season.  Now, it helps to have excellent coaching and top talent, which Warren has year after year but Bo has really done his teams a favor by scheduling tougher competition early on.  It allows him the opportunity to experiment with his lineups and give his kids the chance to play in a big-time atmosphere BEFORE it really matters like it will in the Quarters, Semis and Finals.   I just found the correlation between Warren's non-conference schedule and it's play-off success pretty interesting.  I'm sure there are some outliers in the Class 4A though.  Teams that play a softer non-conference but still enough play-off success.  I just like to see that Warren truly has a "anyone, anytime, anywhere" mentality.  I really respect Bo for this approach because he knows going into some seasons that he might not win a single non-conference game--but his team will be better off for playing those games.

Would love to see some research from other teams. 

-Kyle